Always and Forever
by Hybrid Wayward Dragon
Summary: This is, I suppose coda to 2.11 but it's more of another introspective fic of events from the season 1 finale upto 2.11 by a still relative newbie to the fandom. Rated T to be safe
**I know, I know. II'm a horrible person who should be working on Raising Cain in my free time but my muse just wouldn't let this go. For those of you who did click on this, thank you and I hope you enjoy it. It is essentially the product of watching from 1.22-2.11 and dying on the inside due to feels. Read, enjoy and review!**

The Mikaelsons' family dynamics were, in their basest form, perhaps not too different from any normal family's. They were, however, taken to the very extreme of their natures over the long years. Kol, the wild card, the fox as it were. Unpredictable, aloof and a formidable opponent in his own right. Fin, the favoured son, perhaps not as much of a bore as Klaus made him out to be, but ruthless when he felt the need and almost fanatic in his beliefs. Kol was family despite their differences, even if showing any form of affection had been a near impossibility for Klaus. Fin had never fit in with them nor had he tried too hard, especially after the loss of Freya.

Elijah, Rebekah and Klaus were and always had been the closest of the siblings. Perhaps the only three to ever truly have the right to call themselves family, if familial love could be judged by actions and intentions and the sheer refusal to let those claimed as family leave. No matter what, it was these three that always found their way back to each other in the end. Their bond truly transcended time in a manner nothing else had, save perhaps Mikael's hatred of Klaus which they had long since stopped questioning the reasoning of. Whatever it took, they would always, _always_ come back to each other in the end. Despite their differences, in spite of the betrayals and pain they caused each other, they fought for each other in a way the rest of them had never done. Always and forever, after all, held true to them like nothing else had ever done.

To understand the true strength of this bond is to understand the lengths they were willing to go for each other. Their bond is their greatest weakness, but it is also their greatest strength. As Elijah had once so aptly put it, back when all of this had just begun, _family is power_.

And facing Mikael when he had been let loose, surrounded by his makeshift family (unfortunately sans Elijah because their utterly _delightful_ mother had taken him) Klaus had never felt more powerful. He was loathe to admit it when his older brother was right, but he had to give credit where credit was due. Family _was_ power, even when half of its members were trying to kill each other. Even Davina had found her way into their broken little family even if it would take most of them, including her, a while to fully accept that fact. After all, if they've learnt anything over the years, it is that family is not bound by blood.

* * *

Giving his little Hope to his sister had possibly been one of the most painful and difficult things Klaus had ever done in his long life. Since the moment he had held his baby girl he felt consumed by a love so strong he had never felt anything like it. It was a love he had never even known existed, had never believed to be real outside of fairytales and fantasies but how else could he explain the fire that coursed through him?

A fire that was already purging the darkness from his soul, cleansing him of his wrongs. He wanted to, no, he _needed_ to be _good_ for her. In a way he had never been before. Be the father to his child that his father had never been to him. After all, who better than he to know the damage a father was capable of?

A fiercely protective streak flowed through him, burning him from the inside as he swore to himself to protect her at all costs. To fight for her, for her innocence and for what she meant to the remnants of this family. It was a burn he not only accepted, but _welcomed_. His child would know how he fought for her and he would gladly raise Hell and break Heaven to get her back and hold her once more in his arms. No matter how long it took, no matter how much blood he needed to spill or how much of his own would fall upon and stain the stones of this city, he would do _whatever it took_ and more to get her back. _Forever and always._

Francesca Gurera and her pathetic pack of wolves had only been the first on his list of those to suffer for posing a threat to his child. It was time the world remembered why the Originals were so feared. Why the very whisper of their names had their enemies cowering in fear. He would gladly take each foe as they came and bathe the pathways of his city in their blood. Be it Mikael or Esther, let them come because this time, this time he had his family to help him and no one and nothing would keep him from his child. He'd like to see them _try_.

It has been said that the man who has nothing to lose and everything to gain is the most dangerous of all. A dark smile slowly spread over his face.

Disproving old sods had always been amusing.

* * *

Seeing the stag mounted on the wall, Elijah almost wanted to laugh. 'The noble stag,' was that how Klaus had put it? His hands were far dirtier than what his immaculate suit suggested. They called him good, noble, _dependable_ , as if that was all he ever was, all they ever expected him to be. If only they knew. He had picked up a few things from his younger brother over the long years. He was not just used to simply experiencing pain, he could inflict it upon others just as well as Klaus could. His sadistic streak was just as wide as his brother's, only far better hidden.

For some reason people were far more surprised when he was the one willingly torturing another. They couldn't have expected the so called noble one to stoop so low after all. But he had and he had done so willingly each time.

The problem at hand, however, was not simply purging his hands of the blood they were metaphorically and, more often than not, physically dripping with, but to stop Fin before he irreversibly damaged Klaus or himself or found out their most closely guarded secret.

He believed still in the necessity of sacrifices, specifically sacrificing his own pleasures for his younger brother. With what Hope represented, not just for his brother but for them _all_ , it was an easier choice than he had imagined to stand and confess his murder of the woman they both had loved so long ago for even half a chance of breaking Fin's spell.

He couldn't quite believe when Niklaus spoke, couldn't quite bear to hear the words of forgiveness that poured from his brother's lips. Words that proclaimed them family, as if to think of them as anything less than was sacrilege and an insult. For the first time in a while, he could not read his younger brother, couldn't tell the sincerity of his words, couldn't _allow_ himself to believe because he knew his younger brother and he knew his methods. To let this trangression go? As if it was nothing?

But as the illusion Fin had created began to fall apart, hope began to build up somewhere deep inside of him. Perhaps even after all that had torn them apart it was still possible for them to be a proper family. Perhaps Niklaus could finally understand what he had been trying to tell him for so long. That they were family in spite of Klaus being the result of their mother's infidelity. That they were brothers no matter what, come what may.

He would never stop fighting for Niklaus' redemption, he didn't believe he could even if he wanted to, but it was moments like these that made it all worth it. Because it was moments like these, when his younger brother actually assured him of meaning every word spoken, that Elijah knew that there was still something left worth fighting for. That even though they were broken, they could heal.

Because that was what family did. They fought for each other, protected each other. Always and forever. That was their promise to each other and come what may, it was a promise they would live and die beside and do so gladly. An eternity side by side with Klaus and Rebekah and Elijah could think of no better place to be.


End file.
